Dust and Dance

My first gig was one day at Download Festival. I was 15 and Linkin Park were headlining. I didn't own a mobile phone yet.

I remember being in the middle of my first mosh pit and wall of death. I remember my first experience of portaloos in a field. There was the smell of hops from the brewery next door. There were middle aged men with backpacks excited to see Iggy Pop. We all cried when we got back on the bus because the day had been so intense. I remember so much about that day, as well as every subsequent concert I've been to in the 12 years since.

Last night, I went to see Marina and the Diamonds in Glasgow with my pals Lauren and Megan. We covered ourselves in glitter. We danced and screamed and sang and I cried at the end when she sang 'Happy' with nothing but a piano.

This photo is the only record we have of the gig:

The girl in front of us recorded almost every second of the concert on her phone. I don't think she actually looked at Marina directly with her eyeballs. I saw others putting videos on their snapchat story. If your snapchat followers all like Marina and the Diamonds so much, they probably would have bought a fucking ticket and went themselves.

I'm annoyed that this annoys me so much, to the extent I can't enjoy gigs as much. I went to see Beyonce two years ago in Dublin and my sister and I were in a crowd of motionless videographers; We'd just turned up with tickets and enough money for the taxi home. When I asked the young 'uns I worked with at Miss Selfridge what the point of it was, they said, "So you can show your friends you were there."

This is how I show my friends I was there: I tell them, "I went to a concert" and they automatically believe me, without asking for proof or anything. So weird.

Maybe I'm an old fuddy-duddy about this. But I remember all of the concerts I've ever been to, and have the scars to remind me in some cases. My pinkie toenail never did grow back after that blink-182 concert...The fact I don't have videos or photos to prove it doesn't diminish my memories. The most important thing about live music is how it made you feel, not what you saw.

Please tell me what you think! Does this annoy you too, or are you easygoing about people filming at concerts?

As you can see from the photo above, the sailor playsuit is still going strong and giving me life. I got my glitter from Dust & Dance, who are cheap as chips and the glitter was AMAZING. It lasted all night through my sweaty dancing! They also donate 10% of their proceeds to mental health campaigners YoungMinds and I can't think of a better way to support charity than covering yourself in glitter.